Van Riemsdyk's Olympic experience memorable despite way it ended

The Maple Leafs’ James Van Riemsdyk, left, celebrates with Mason Raymond after scoring against the Montreal Canadiens in a game March 1. Van Riemsdyk, formerly of the Flyers and a New Jersey native, discussed his experience playing for Team USA at the Olympics Saturday before he and his Leafs faced the Flyers. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

TORONTO — Just because Team USA ended up going belly up late in the medal round of the Winter Olympics, it doesn’t mean James van Riemsdyk didn’t appreciate the moment. The former Flyers forward, now a force at left wing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, glowed with the memory Saturday prior to hosting his old Flyers team at Air Canada Centre.

“It was something that I always wanted to do,” van Riemsdyk, the pride of Middletown, N.J., said of his Olympic experience. “If you get a chance to go over there and play, it’s great. That atmosphere we had against Russia ... that was one of the more memorable games I’ve ever played in.”

It was that game against the Russians, a 3-2 victory for the Americans in a preliminary round shootout finish, that seemed to paint Team USA as perhaps a medal round favorite. Instead, the Americans were shut down, 1-0, by Canada in the semifinals, then fell flat in the bronze medal game and were blown out by the Finns to finish fourth.

As disappointing as that was, van Riemsdyk, who was effective for Team USA while playing with his Leafs linemate Phil Kessel, would still have the memories. Three weeks to the day removed from that victory over Russia, he still felt the emotion.

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Back home in Middletown, he recalled, his parents arranged a live viewing party at a local restaurant, MJ’s Pizza Bar and Grill, for what turned out to be a 7 a.m. start to that game.

“They had a breakfast gathering, and they were expecting a couple of people from the neighborhood to come by,” van Riemsdyk said, “and it ended up that they sold out the whole bar. They basically shut down the whole place. ... It was cool.”

Van Riemsdyk feels the same way about participating in the Olympics. Even though he and Kessel had to return to Toronto wearing the weight of no medal while Team Canada donned gold again, van Riemsdyk said he didn’t have to bear the scar of Team USA’s finish.

“We didn’t hear much about it, thankfully,” van Riemsdyk said. “Actually, it would have been an interesting dynamic if that (Canada-US) game would have went the other way, to see how the (Maple Leafs) fans would have responded. But it is what it is and it was a good experience for us.”

Van Riemsdyk’s two seasons in Toronto have been just as fulfilling.

“As far as Eagles or Phillies might be the team in Philadelphia, the Leafs are the team in Toronto, and they’re almost like a national team,” van Riemsdyk said. “It’s fun playing in a hockey city like this. You get held accountable more just because there’s more (media) coverage. Game in and game out and practice in and practice out, people know what you’re doing, which is crazy. But it’s been good so far.”

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Van Riemsdyk’s rise this year in Toronto, of course, may give Flyers fans pause when they recall their team drafted him second overall in 2007. He had some injury problems early in his career, which may have helped move Paul Holmgren to decide to swap JVR to the Leafs straight up for Luke Schenn at the conclusion of the 2012 NHL Draft.

Schenn’s presence in Philly has had an obviously positive effect on younger brother Brayden Schenn, the Flyers’ second line center. But Luke’s history of up-and-down performances has continued somewhat in Philadelphia, which makes it only natural for Flyers fans to wonder about what could have been had that 2012 trade not been consummated.

“Different positions, different types of players,” said van Riemsdyk, who went into Saturday night’s game with 26 goals and 52 points. “He’s a defensive defenseman and I’m a scoring forward. ... It’s obviously tough to compare. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.”

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NOTES: The Leafs scratched David Clarkson Saturday due to a muscle pull. Clarkson, who had 30 goals for the Devils in 2011-12 and 15 for them in 48 games last shortened season, has been a bit of a bust for the Leafs. After signing a 7-year, $36.75 million free agent deal with Toronto in the offseason, he began the season serving a 10-game suspension, recently missed nine games with a leg injury and has four goals and six assists in 46 games. ... The appearance of Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux in Sunday’s Harlem Globetrotters late afternoon game at Wells Fargo Center is actually just a minute-or-so segment in which they’re pulled out of the stands to shoot. We’ll see if Simmonds still wants to dunk.